alright folks, after being without one for the past 18 months, i know finally have a camera phone once again! in other words… it’s on!

having a palm treo with a camera for years was something that brought me and many friends much joy as i was able to document some of the crazy randomness that i tend to encounter with surprising regularity. in september ’07 i upgraded from a treo 750 to a blackberry 8830 world edition which came in extremely handy in all my international travel throughout the following year, but did not have a camera. well, today i put an end to that when i switched to a shiny new blackberry curve, complete with camera!

here is a small sample of some of my camera phone goodies from over the years…

Front a center at a private event in DC where Beyonce gave a surprise performance

At an instore with Kirk in Atlanta (Oct 05), we "experienced" this crazy lady who claimed to have written all of his songs, and MaryMary's, and Kierra Sheard's... priceless!

On the Hero Tour (Spring '06), I think we were in Mississippi... this McDonalds employee was getting dressed for work in the parking lot right by the front door.

Not surprisingly, at the same McDonalds as mentioned above, saw this dude who was rocking TWO different plaids... and you know he thought he was killin it, right?

During a hurricane-produced gas shortage in Dallas in 2005, one local station had apparently run out of "regural". Classy.

I know what they meant to say, but "remodelation"?

King's Palace in Joplin, Missouri... the only Chinese buffet I have seen with mashed potatoes and gravy, spaghetti and smoked sausage.

and my personal favorite... "special gift for special people"... a figurine of a small african-american child sitting on a toilet, pants down, putting on her shoes... for the person who has everything.

the camera phone bandit is back… this will be your only warning… i’m just saying… 🙂

i’ll be brief. here’s the skinny… mary j. blige’s sister latonya is supposedly preparing to release a gospel album. the first single has released and whooooooa bessie… apparently making a “joyful noise” unto the lord is much more a relative concept than i was aware. i love me some mary j. and will readily admit that she’s not exactly the best singer herself, but where i’ve got to give it up to mary is that no matter what she is singing, you feel her. i certainly feel this as well, but in a much, much different way.

i’m not exactly sure what happened here, but it’s reeeeeeeeal special. and i’m actually surprised that mary j. is actually singing on it! more than that, i’m kind of shocked that mary would let her put herself out there like this. then again, maybe they think it’s hot. i appreciate mary’s verse, but dude… i mean, i love Jesus too and er’rything, but, but… the track is wack and this is just ………… and it all sounds about 15 years old to boot. (yes, “to boot”)

perhaps singing isn’t necessarily latonya’s bag… may i suggest a handbell praise album? i’m going to need her to begin to operate in an auto-tune spirit expeditiously! i’m just sayin’… i’m certainly not his biggest fan, but where’s t-pain when you need him?!?! this is one gospel record i wouldn’t mind him jumping on. stretch your hands and pray, saints… where’s my oil?

i know these are a couple years old, but i just stumbled across them this afternoon. funny, but interesting takes on being religious from a series of videos about “connecting with God without being religious”. in my life, i’ve seen more division, strife and pride produced in the name of “religion” than anything. ick. i have yet to see where religion of any kind produces grace, and probably never will. i dig these and can relate to them all. you? holla.

my homey rick seilbold is an indie artist originally from north carolina, but is now in nashville, by way of new york. follow that? 🙂 rick writes great pop music that will make you smile and want to hit ‘repeat’ and if you’re looking for cool new music, you should know about rick seibold.

his dope new ep “new york” releases april 28, but the first 100 people to pre-order can download the whole record now. check out the ‘new york’ ep sampler here, then befriend him on myspace, facebook and twitter. word.

it’s supposed to be 70 degrees in nashville today and stay in the 70s all weekend, which has been a long time coming. spring is on it’s way and i could not be happier.

today’s friday throwback isn’t too old, but it’s not necessary recent either. but it makes me feel like spring is just around the corner. as the green grass starts to push its way to the surface and new buds pop up on trees, so a new season is dawning in the lives of so many people right now.

funny thing about watching anything grow that started in seed form and has been planted… it has to push through a lot of opposition and obstacles before you even see it. then, when you finally do see it start to emerge from the ground, you still really don’t see it, you just see what it looks like right now… but it’s only a matter of time… just as every mighty oak started as a seed, so your life has yet to reveal who you truly are. if you judge something based on what you see right now, you’ll get distracted and discouraged and miss it.